The Past Ten Years

Can you believe 10 years has passed? Man it’s been a long 10 years yet, it seems like it flew by so fast. So much has happened in the last decade. I’ve gained and I’ve loss. I’ve experienced joy and pain. I was going to use this post to discuss everything that I’ve loss and all the “ bad” things that I have experienced throughout the past 10 years. Instead I decided to focus on the good and the many blessings that have been bestowed upon me. Some experiences have not been so great, but lessons were learned, so I can say with a good heart that “the TEN’s” were good to me. After reading my fellow blogger friend Mallory’s blogpost, I decided to do my own tribute to the “tens” as she calls them.

2010

This year I overcame a few fears that resided inside of me. It was the year I did the big chop. After 6 months of keeping braids in my hair, I was ready for to go all natural. I thought I would have to rock a little bush for awhile but, nope I was able to start my loc journey on that same day. I can honestly say it was one of the best decisons I’ve ever made.

Not only did I conquer my natural hair fear and leave the perms in the past, April of 2010 I made a “big girl” decision. My now husband and I decided it was time to move in together. In April of 2010 we found our first apartment together. As I sit and reflect we had some great moments in that apartment. Taking that step in our relationship taught us both so many lessons about ourselves and each other. That very decision led to the lives we now have.

2012

The happiest day and the worst day of my life all occured in 2012. In April of 2012 I gave birth to my only boy and first child. It’s a day I’ll never forget. After about 11 hours of labor not counting the time I was at home in labor and had no clue, Gerald entered into this world. 7lbs and 7oz of my whole heart. Being a new mom was a challenge, but was a title I’ve come to honor.

My happiness was short lived that year because on November 30, 2012 my mom died. All the joy I had for the 7 months of my baby’s life was lifted from my heart. If you’ve been following me then you know the story. Losing my mom took me out and I thought I would never get over it. Although I’ll never be “over it,” I did gain peace with it. Sometimes we have to stop trying to make sense of things and accept them as God’s will. God gives His peace. His peace passes all understanding, so even though I don’t fully understand why my mom had to die, I do have the peace of God knowing she is just fine. I really gained the strength of a woman this year.

2014

Honestly, 2013 is sort of a blur for me. For that reason I’ll jump to the year where things began to change for me. I was now the mom of a 2 year old. And they didn’t lie when they said “terrible two’s.” Not all was bad though. In 2014 I began my career as postal carrier. It was at that time the job I always dreamed of. I was making good money, had benefits, and was on the road to a great career path. Not only were things looking up for me, my then boyfriend and now husband graduated from college. Yep my baby did it! So after so much heartbreak and heartache life was looking up for the both of us.

2015

Seems like after 2014 life started to go up for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’d been thrown some lemons, but thank God for lemonade. On my birthday of 2015 Gerald planned the most perfect day. I still remember every single detail. The day started off normal, Gee and I attended church then went to Another Broken Egg for brunch. I can’t remember what he ordered, but I had the shrimp and grits. From there we went and played a round of put put golf. I started to lie and say I won, but I didn’t I lost terribly. (LOL) I did have alot of fun though. For me this day was perfect, I ate and had great conversation along with golf with the man I love. I was content with just that, but Gerald had other plans. He knew how much I loved to be a tourist in our own city, so that’s exactly what we were gonna do. I have to admit looking back he’d seemed nervous all day. I still remember catching him hitting that bottle of Grey Goose before our tour. We found parking and started on our stroll when we ran into a group of our friends. One person stood out though, the guy that started to seranade me, as he sung, my friends yelled for me to look up and when I did they all were holding signs that read “Will you marry me?” When I turned back around to look at my then boyfriend he was on one knee with the most beautiful ring I ever saw. My smile overshadowed everything so much so that I don’t believe I ever said yes.(LOL) I guess we both got the picture when I let him put the ring on. I will always remember that day. It was perfect in the most Yadie/Gerald way.

2016

Then came 2016, the year I got married. If I’m being honest this was a relatively hard year for me. I loss some of the people closest to me. Not like in death, but some friendships were laid to rest that year. Like I said in the begining lessons were learned so ya know. But, back to the joyous times. This day I felt so beautiful. I walked down the aisle, given away by my grandmother to the man of my dreams. A beautiful wedding, a beautiful beginning and then we found out we were pregnant. Yes we were pregnant with our baby girl.

2017

Now being newlyweds and navigating life as such, we were shocked to learn that we were pregnant with baby number 2. This pregnancy was unplanned, we’d discussed maybe trying again, but God had another plan for us. After our visit to the doctor we’d learned that we were already pregnant on our wedding day. (LOL) 2017 was a good year, despite my being pregnant. This pregnancy was much different from the first. I stayed sick, I craved chocolate and even had to stop working due to heat exhaustion. All of this was different for me. I can tell you summertime pregnancy is no fun! But, on that hot August day, which just so happened to be my husband’s birthday, my beautiful baby girl was born. Although I had a rough delivery, I was so happy to finally meet my baby. She was perfect!

This year was a milestone year for me. It was the year I turned 30 years old. Now married, a mom of two and a bad case of postpartum depression, life began to take a turn for me. I’ll tell you that story at another time, but 2017 was pretty gloomy for me but God stepped in. I also decided to start living audaciously this year.

2018

This year was much much better. Two of my favorite people got married and had a destination wedding in Punta Cana. I was blessed to not only witness their I do's but had the honor of standing as a bridesmaid in their wedding. This wedding was the cause of my family’s first international family vacation. We had an amazing time. It was my and my kid’s first time on an airplane. It was a wonderful experience. I thought traveling with a baby would be hard, but surprisingly it wasn’t so bad. We spent 7 days of bliss in the Dominican Republic and we loved every minute of it. My son still talks about it everyday.

This was the same year that IV GREY BLOG was born. In July of 2018, I stepped out in faith and boldly launched my blog. Writing has always been a passion of mine. After much research I decided to just go for It.

2019

And then there was 2019. I experienced so much all in this final year of the decade. 2019 was like the whole decade in one for me. One of my favorite persons married her bestfriend and I had the honor of standing beside her as a bridesmaid. Legit one of my favorite moments of 2019. So much happened in this year. Another high was my very first event as media. I covered the “Time is of the Essence” fashion show during Essence festival weekend.

I also had to have my very first surgery. I had been dealing with Carpal Tunnel unknowingly and it was so bad that I had to have immediate surgery. After 5 and a half years of being a mail carrier it was time for a change. No lie I was miserable in my position and God told me it was time to move on. Being out of work for 2 months began a new work inside of me. I learned that there's power in being still.

All in all this year has been good to me. My husband and I celebrated 3 years of marriage. I started a new career path, that I’m totally in love with. I've kept little humans alive for a total of 7 years. God has showed up countless times this year.

I’m blessed! God has been so good to me. I am so ready for what 2020 and this next decade has in store for me. Reflecting on this past decade has brought so many memories to mind. I’ve turned my L's into lessons and I've gotten blessings on blessings. I’m ready to glow all 2020, but I’m thankful for the growth that the “ten's” came with.

Cheers to 2020,